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Cambanis sheds light on uprisings in the Middle East

AP foreign correspondant Thanassis Cambanis speaks at the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication on Monday evening. He is a formed editor-in-chief of The Daily Tar Heel and spoke at the office before going to the journalism school.
AP foreign correspondant Thanassis Cambanis speaks at the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication on Monday evening. He is a formed editor-in-chief of The Daily Tar Heel and spoke at the office before going to the journalism school.

From editor-in-chief of The Daily Tar Heel to foreign correspondent living in Beirut, Thanassis Cambanis returned to his roots Monday.

Cambanis, who graduated in 1996, is a distinguished journalist with expertise in Middle Eastern and U.S. foreign policy.

Cambanis now writes the “Internationalist Column” for The Boston Globe, is a contributor to The New York Times and an adjunct professor at Columbia University.

He also wrote “A Privilege to Die: Inside Hezbollah’s Legions and Their Endless War Against Israel,” and is working on another book.

Cambanis accepted the General Alumni Association’s Distinguished Young Alumni Award Friday for his accomplishments.

During his visit, Cambanis, a Chapel Hill native, took a trip back to what he called “the test tube” — The Daily Tar Heel, what he said was the only local paper that mattered.

“My first through 20th journalism jobs were at the DTH,” Cambanis said.

“It’s great to come back home and in context think about the work I’ve done as a foreign correspondent,” he said.

Cambanis said he is only able to come back every two or three years, and he thinks it’s striking how deeply people in Chapel Hill care about events in the Middle East.

In light of those events, particularly the uprisings since 2010, he presented a lecture called “Arab Uprisings Aren’t Over,” hosted by the Curriculum in Global Studies, on Monday night.

Cambanis said his passion for the Middle East and foreign affairs began with his interest in the Balkan Islands, which he studied in college because of his Greek roots.

After the 9/11 attacks, the Middle East became the go-to place for budding war correspondents, Cambanis said.

“I’ve been pressed up close to the glass of the revolt in Egypt, so it’s great to have a chance to step back three years after Arab uprisings,” he said.

Cambanis began his lecture saying that it looks like a dark time in the Middle East.

“Egypt is dearest to my heart and it doesn’t look good after three authoritarian regimes having been unseated in three years — we have a retooled, sexy young dictator in the making killing more people than Mubarak ever did.”

“My aim here tonight is not to depress you, which is why I’m beginning with the worst news,” Cambanis said.

He questioned what was left with the revolts that began in 2010 and asked the audience why some regimes still haven’t been overthrown.

“It is too soon to write the epitaph on the Arab revolts and too soon to judge them a failure or deem them an irrevocable success,” he said.

Daphne Athas, a retired creative writing professor, said she attended the lecture because she has known Cambanis since he was a baby.

“I have known Thanassis since the beginning and I just got back from Greece — I haven’t seen him since he was here at Flyleaf Books (in 2010),” Athas said.

Creative writing professor Marianne Gingher taught Cambanis in his undergraduate career.

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“He was just sweet as pie,” Gingher said.

Freshman Mariana Abourizk attended the talk for her cultural portfolio for her Arabic class.

Abourizk said she thought that in light of recent revolts, the Arab uprisings aren’t over, and establishing a government the majority of Egypt can agree on would be difficult.

“I learned more about Middle Eastern politics in this talk than I have by following the media in the past,” she said.

university@dailytarheel.com

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